Located on the south bank of the Ashley River, the property boasted walking trails lined with beautiful blossoms
Located on the south bank of the Ashley River, Mateeba Gardens’ bountiful blossoms and beautiful scenery invited visitors to walk through “A Fairyland on Earth,” as described on this colorized postcard. In 1675, Lord Proprietor Anthony Ashley Cooper subdivided a large piece of land into multiple small plantations, one serving as the long-term home of the Wragg family. Just up the river from Middleton Place, the property passed into the hands of Francis Pelzer Barry in 1937, who relocated an existing 19th-century home to the site and recreated the original plantation-style gardens. The historic grounds were open to the public as Mateeba Gardens (a name taken from Barry’s mother) in the mid-1940s, but closed in 1965 after being damaged by an ice storm. Today, they serve as an event site and stables.
See more postcards from the past in our June 2022 “Greetings From Charleston” feature.
